, 1887-07-19
HERMANN EXPLAINED.
HOW A SHOWMAN'S CELEBRATED
TRICKS ARE PERFORMED.

IA Candy Horn-The Rabbits.
Hermann then picked up a pack of cards
from the table and shuffled them, arrang-
ing the min of clubs, ten of diamonds and
ace of hearts in the middle Of the pack, SO
that he would know their exact position
and could keep the third finger of his
right hand beneath them. He walked
down from the stage and presented the
pack, spread out back upward, to one of
the audience, requesting the gentleman to
select a card. AS the stranger reached
for n card, Hermann moved the nine of
clubs toward him with his finger, and the
stranger took it. Another person was
made to draw the ten of diamonds, and
another the nee of hearts, in the same
way. They looked at their cards and put
them back into the pack, which was then
shuflied. The WI returned to the
stage and asked the three persons to name
their cards. They did so, and n young
woman, dressed as a page, then brought
fiom behind the scenes a sword. The
blade OF the sword had been passed
through three similar cards, which were
concealed behind the hilt guard. A fine
elastic cord was attached to the point of
the sword, stretched and fastened to the
hilt. The three cards were made fast to
the elastic. The young woman took the
pack and tossed it toward Hermann, who
held the sword in his hand. AS she did
SO, he thrust the sword toward the flying
pack and released the elastic from the hilt.
The nine of clubs, ten of diamonds and nee
of hearts at once appeared near the point
of the blade, as though pierced through
while flying.
Next, Hermann borrowed a handker-
chief from n lady and gave it to u young
man to hold between his hands. He car
ried II wand under his arm. Taking the
wand out with his right hand, he also
took from n little pocket under his arm a
small package of pieces Of linen, which he
concealed in the palm of his right hand.
lie then said the young man in the audi
ence was not holding the handkerchief
right, and took it from him to show him
how. He rubbed the handkerchief be-
tween his hands, palmed it, and gave
back the bits of cloth iii its stead. The
young man did not observe the change.
Again Hermann appeared dissatisfied, and
told the young man to hold the lander
chief up by a corner. The dupe opened
his hands, and the bits of cloth fell out.
He picked them up and handed them to
Hermann, who put them between his own
hands, palmed them, and worked toward
the ends Of his fingers n long strip of
CLOTH, which he had concealed in his palm.
Then he shook out the strip, and said it
was composed OF the pieces. This he
ApAANN W NV BeAiACh aAlAl III lS
back to the audience to go back upon the
stage he put up all the bits of cloth
away under his coat and showed his
hands to be empty. Then he picked up a
lemon from which the pulp had been re-
moved, and inside Of which q handker
chief had been placed. He cut the lemon
and drew out the handkerchief. The
spectators thought it was the one he had
borrowed, and they a%pplauded. He put
the handkerchief on n plate and poured
some alcohol pom it. The pretty young
woman set fire to the alcohol with a
candle. Then he eXtinguished the flame
with Il sheet of paper, in which he wrapped
the embers. He went to a table, rolled
the package witt his hand into a little well
and took up another paper containing an
unscorched piece of cloth. He walked
down toward the audience, pretended to
toss the piece of cloth to n lady with his
left and palmed it with his right hand,
which he dropped to his waist. While the
spectators were looking at his left hand
he concealed the piece of cloth in a pocket
just inside the edge of his coat. He then
placed his wand under his left arm, and
took from the pocket there the original
borrowed handkerchief, concealing it in
his palm. Placing his hand at a gentle
mans ear, he dropped the handkerchief
to the ends of his fingers, pretended to
take it out of the gentleman's ear and
handle it to the lady.
The performer borrowed n tall hat,
turned his back to the audience, put q
handkerchief containing three eggs into
the hat us he turned to the stage, faced
about, and took first the handkerchief and
the eggs from the hat. Tn pretty young
woman, with a short wand in her hand,
went down the aisle and borrowed three
rings. Returning TO the stage, she slipped
three other rings upon the wand and
handed it to the Snowman, keeping the
three borrowed rings concealed in her
hands. She then went behind the scenes,
and tied the three rings to ribbons hang
ing from the necks of three white doves,
and put the doves into the deep cover of a
stew pan. The cover had a false bottom
held in place by a spring. While she was
doing this Hermann let the three bogus
rings slide from the wand into a stew
pan, broke the eggs and dropped them in,
poured in some alcohol and set fire to it.
The pretty young woman brought out the
cover and Hermann placed it on the pan.
He then released the false bottom, lifted
the cover, and showed the three doves
sitting on the pan with the borrowed rings
tied to their necks. He placed one of the
doves on the barrel of n pistol, and
fired his weapon. The dove was trained
not to move. He put the dove on a table,
covered it with a handkerchief, dropped
the Dlfd through a little trap, gathered
up the handkerchief as though the dove
were inside, wiggling his finger in the
handkerchief to simulate the fluttering Of
the bird, and then smashed the handker-
chief between his hands very violently.
Ladies in the audience said, "Ohr' The
Snowman shook the handkerchief out by
the corners and showed that it was empty.
Hermann next got a programme, rolled
it up into the form of u candy horn,
placing in it secretly n compressed packet
of cut paper flowers that he obtained from
the pocket under his left arm. Putting
his right hand into the horn, ostensibly to
shape it better, he removed the pressure
from the packet and the paper flowers
swelled and filed the horn. He shook
them out upon the table, put his hand
upon them to arrange them and picked
up another packet, which he introduced
into the horn while again adjusting its
shape. He repeated this several times,
until about a bushel of flowers had been
shaken out.-New York Sun.
Scattering the DiphtherIa.
A man in Salt Lake City took Soma